Literature
LITERARY REVIEW Deborah Bathurst, Sherborne Literary Society
Actress by Anne Enright, (Jonathan Cape) £8.99
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his novel is written in the form of a biography. The ‘author‘ is Norah, daughter of a famous actress, Katherine O’Dell. Inevitably, the book is also an autobiography of Norah as the lives of mother and daughter are intertwined. Norah is provoked into writing the book following a visit from a young woman, Holly Devane, who is writing her doctoral thesis about Katherine O’Dell. Norah, an author herself, is middle-aged with grown-up children of her own. Her mother, as well as being a famous actress and Hollywood star, is, by this time, probably best remembered for the notoriety she gained from shooting a producer in the foot and then being committed to a mental institution. Despite being accustomed to giving interviews about her mother, she is irritated by Holly’s use of the phrase ‘heteronormative’ and asking about her mother’s ‘sexual style’. Later that evening, her husband asks, ‘why don’t you write it yourself ?’ We are told about Katherine’s early life. The daughter of two actors who toured Ireland during the war, Katherine was at boarding school in Ireland but joined the actors during the holidays and took small parts in the productions, using her mother’s name of Odell. From the London stage she went to Broadway, where she became O’Dell and a redhead. Then, to Hollywood, glittering fame and an unconsummated Hollywood marriage that didn’t last. Home was Dartmouth Square, Dublin, where Katherine, now a single mother, lived between jobs. Norah was a much-loved child, her mother’s ‘miracle’
but the question as to who her father was weaves throughout the story. There is no doubt there was a loving relationship between mother and daughter but there are moments when Norah wonders if ‘Mother’ was yet another role acted by Katherine. We get Norah’s view of Katherine through her eyes as a child, teenager, young adult and then as a mature woman. As Norah grows up, there is more about her own life and the men she knew as well as increased speculation about her mother’s life and the people in it. She lives through her mother’s period of fame and then the decline in her career as the film work stops and the younger theatre parts become less and less after the age of 40, observing the impact it has on her mother. Then there is the shooting followed by the court case, the committal to the mental institution and the period back home afterwards until her death. This all takes place against the background of life in Dublin during the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and as Norah reaches adulthood, the ‘Troubles’ spill over from the North with the burning of the British embassy in Dublin after Bloody Sunday. ‘Anne Enright writes so well that she just might ruin you for anyone else...Stripped raw of any sentimentality, the result is a critique, a confession, a love letter - and another brilliant novel from Anne Enright. Ian McEwan sherborneliterarysociety.com
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